Disappearing bed.



0. A. KNUDTSON & T. M. PAULSEN.

DISAPPEARING BED.

APPLlcATloN FILED Nov. 2o. |914.

1,197,085. Patentisept. 5,1916.

f d @QQ 0. A. KNUDTSON & T. M. PAULSEN.

DISAPPEARING BED.

APPLICATION HLED Nov. zo, 1914.

1,197,035. f vMHdSQPt. 5,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

0. A. KNUDTSON & T. M. PAULSEN.

DISAPPEARING BED.

APPLlcATloN mso Nov. l2o. m4.

1,1 97,035. l Patented sept. 5,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FEED STTFS A nic. f

OLE A. KNUDTYSON AND THORWELL M. PAULSEN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

DISAPPEARING BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ea sept.. 5, isis.

Application led November 20, 1914. Serial No. 873,172.

To all (whom z'tmag/ concern.'

Be it known that we, OLE A. KNUDTsoN and THoRwnLL M. PAULsnN, citizens of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Disappearing Beds, of which the following is a specication.

Our invention relates to improvements in disappearing beds of the kind wherein the bed is designed to be raised into an opening in the ceiling when it is not in use so that it will not occupy any floor space in the room.

The objects of the invention are, among .other things, to provide improved means for raising and lowering the bed through the medium of'aJ suspended ceiling panel, upon which the bed normally rests, but which will move independently of the bed when the legs thereof rest upon the floor, and also to provide means at each corner of the panel for adjusting the same in height so as to keep it level.

With these and other ends in view the invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings showing an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fragment of the ceiling, side Wall, and interior of a room showingthe bed in lowered position; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of a fragment of the bed and panel shown raised into a recess in the ceiling, with the exposed leg in horizontal position; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of a fragment of the bed and ceiling panel shown with the panel lowered below the bed frame, and the leg in vertical position; Fig. 4 is a side View of a fragment of the bed and panel with the leg in horizontal position alongside the bed frame; and Fig. 5 is a view of the gear case with the cover removed.

In the drawings, A represents the framework of the ceiling which is formed on the underside with a recess 2 for the reception of the bed. The bed consists of a frame 3 having the usual springs 4 for supporting a mattress D. At each of the four corners of the bed frame is a bracket 5 having a laterally projected squared socket for the reception of the squared end 6 of the inturned upper portion of a removable angle leg 7,

.i whereby the legs 7 may be secured in the socket so as to stand vertically, as shown in Fig. 1, or horizontally alongside the bed frame,as shown in Fig. 2.

lThe ceiling panel B upon which the bed 1s supported when in raised position, and through the medium of which it is raised and lowered, is suspended from the ceiling at each of its four corners by means of cables 14. These run over sheaves '15 upon the ceiling timbers and lead down to a common winding shaft 1 6 which passes rotatably through the gear case 22 secured to the side wall and is operated by means of a rotatable shaft 17 having a worm 18 in mesh with the worln'wheel 23 upon the winding shaft 16. At their lower ends the cables 14 are secured to hollow hanger members 8 which pass slidlngly through Vopenings 21 in the brackets 5 carried at the corners of the bed frame. The

panel B is preferably suspended from these hangers by means of an adjusting screw 9 screw threaded into thelower end of the hanger and having a head 10 lodged within a hole 12 in the panel. The head of the screw is securedto the panel by means of a plate 11 against which its upperV side abuts and through which the screw passes loosely. Just above this plate the screw is formed with a squared shank 13 .by which it may be turned with a wrenchr in order to adjust the adjacent` end of the panel up or down as may be desired.

A false panel .C similar to the panel B is movably arranged within the recess 2 in the path of the bed so that, when the bed is raised, the false panel will be lifted up by the bed and rest upon it, and when the bed islowered the false panel will move down with it until it lodges upon the inwardly projecting ceiling supports 19. The false panel has holes 20 to allow the cables 14 to pass loosely through so that it will be held centered in position by means of these cables.

When the bed is in raised position within the recess 2, the structure will stand in the position shown in Fig. 2 with the legs 7 lying horizontally alongside the bed frame, the false panel C resting upon the bedding D and the ceiling panel flush with the rest of the ceiling. To lower the bed the winding shaft 16 is turned to unwind the cables 14, when the ceiling panel B with the bed supported thereon will move down by gravity. As it moves down the legs are removed from their sockets and replaced therein so that they will stand in upright position, as shown in Fig. l, before the bed reaches the Hoor. When the bottoms o the legs come to rest upon the floor the bed will stop but the panel will continue its descent below the bed frame, as shown in Fig. l until there is ample space between it and the bed for the free working of the springs. The unwinding of the cable is then stopped. As the bed is lowered the false panel C which rests thereon will travel down until it is intercepted by the supports 19 upon which it will rest, thus closing the opening in the ceiling.

VJ hen the cable is wound up to raise the bed the panel B will be lifted until it engages the underside of the bed, when it will carry the bed up with it. When the legs of the bed are clear of the floor they are removed' from their sockets and replaced therein so that they will lie horizontally along the bed frame as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and take up none of the vertical space in the recess. When the bed strikes the false panel, now forming part of the ceiling, it will lift it up into the recess, as shown in Fig. 2, while the lower panel B will move up so as to close the opening in the ceiling.

In order that the legs may not extend out beyond the panell opening in the ceiling when they are placed horizontally and the bed is raised, but may be extended out beyond the panel when they are placed vertically and the bed is lowered, the sockets in the brackets 5 and the square ends 6 of the legs are so constructed that the squared ends 6 can be inserted into the sockets to a greater or less extent, as maybe desired.

I claim as my invention:

l. The combination with the ceiling timbers of a room, of a ceiling panel suspended therefrom, means for raising and lowering said panel, a bed normally supported upon said panel, and means for intercepting and independently supporting the bed at a certain point in the downward travel of the panel whereby to allow the panel to continue its downward movement independently of the bed.

2. The combination with the ceiling timbers of a room, of a panel suspended therefrom, means for raising and lowering said panel, a bed normally supported upon said panel, and means for intercepting and independently supporting the bed at a certain point in the downward travel of the panel whereby to allow the panel to separate from the bed, the suspension means for said panel having sliding connection with the bed whereby to hold the bed and panel in proper relation.

3. The combination with the ceiling timbers of a room, of a ceiling panel, a bed normally resting upon said panel but having no fixed connection therewith, iexible connections for suspending said panel from said ceiling timbers, hangers connecting the panel with said flexible connections land having intermediate sliding engagement with the bed, and means for intercepting and independently supporting the bed at a certain point in its downward travel.

In testimony whereof we ailix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

OLE A. KNUDTSON. THORWELL M. PAULSEN. vVitneSsesz ARTHUR P. LoTHRoP, H. SwANsoN.

Copies oi this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patente,

Washington, D. C. 

